


heart rose to its feet

by thisdorkyficthing



Series: Two Lovers in an Endless Ocean (Extended Edition) [4]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Grumpy Loner Thor, MTF Loki, Tags May Change, Transphobia and Bullying, transgender loki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2020-04-23 21:28:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19159330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisdorkyficthing/pseuds/thisdorkyficthing
Summary: An expansion ofchapter 54.Hadn't having his locker be like, four down from hers been enough? Did he really need to be right next to her too?





	1. Close Encounters of the Awkward Kind

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't resist any longer, I've been thinking about this story pretty much since I posted the chapter. I just love grumpy loner Thor TOO MUCH.

“Go ahead and have a seat right there, Mr. Borson.”

Loki tensed up as Mrs. Norris pointed to her table, a jolt of icy fear going down her spine while her face went hot. The new guy ambled over and flopped down in to the chair directly next to her. Loki flinched as he let the heavy textbook thump down hard on the dark table top. Everyone kept glancing back their way, the room filling with hushed whispers about him, and maybe Loki too because why the fuck not. She couldn't stop fidgeting after that.

Hadn't having his locker be like, four down from hers been enough? Did he really _need_ to be right next to her too?

“Loki, would you be so kind as to help Thor get up to speed with where we are?” Mrs Norris asked before going right off in to the lesson. well before Loki could give any sort of reply, but it's not like she would even take Loki's no for an answer anyway.

“Um.” Loki flipped back a page or two in her notebook. “What were you doing at your old school?”

Thor shrugged. “I was only there for a couple months, I didn't really pay attention.”

“Oh.” Helpful. She slid her notebook between them with a trembling hand. “Well, we're working on viruses this week,” she said, pointing at the top of the page.

Thor leaned in close enough that Loki could smell the soap he used, his expression _unflaggingly_ stony as he scanned the paper with bright blue eyes.

“Nice handwriting,” he said, nodding his head once as he leaned back.

While Loki was pretty proud of how neat her notes were, she wasn't sure if the guy actually meant it as a compliment or not.

Neither of them spoke after that.

 

She walked in to English to find that her usual seat – back left corner, next to the bookshelves – was taken by someone that was growing uncomfortably familiar by the hour. She froze up for a moment, mind scrambling to try and figure out what to do. Well, she didn't want to totally give up the sense of seclusion she had from her usual spot, and people were filing in fast, so she was quick to go and take the desk directly in front of him. She felt his gaze burning in to the back of her head as she sat down, but she kept her eyes forward. She relaxed little by little after the period began, able to somewhat ignore his presence behind her until the bell rang.

In the chaotic rush of everyone trying to get out of the classroom as soon as possible, Loki walked face first right in to Thor's chest. She froze, looking up from the floor to find Thor staring back at her with that unhappy look on his face.

She hugged her textbook to her chest and mumbled out a quick “sorry” before walking around him and bolting out of the room.

 

She ran in to Thor a few more times after that, walking around in the halls and showing up in a couple of her other classes. She didn't miss the fact that he avoided talking to anyone. Even when one of the prettier girls in the class tried talking to him he barely acknowledged her at all, giving her gruff, one word answers that he didn't even bother to look her way to give. It was somehow reassuring that it seemed like he didn't like anybody, like maybe Loki didn't have to worry about him being an asshole to her in particular if he just kinda… was an asshole to _every_ _one_ _._

 

Loki went straight to Aunt Hanna's car as soon as the day was finished, sighing in relief as she settled in to the passenger's seat.

“How was your day?”

Loki made an unhappy noise that Hanna hummed at, pulling out to join the line of other cars trying to get off the campus.

“A new guy started at school today,” she mentioned, head lolling on the headrest.

Hanna raised her eyebrows. “Oh? Is he nice?”

Loki frowned out the window, catching a glimpse of Thor trudging through the crowd as the slowly rolled past. “Can't tell.”


	2. Group Assignments are The Worst

The worst words to ever be uttered in a classroom: “Okay everyone, partner up!”

Loki's shoulders drooped, nerves and dread sinking to the pit of her stomach as the classroom filled with the murmur of voices and desks being pushed together as everyone quickly paired off.

The teacher went around, writing down who was paired with who and assigning stories to everyone, eventually making her way to the corner where Loki and Thor sat.

“Are you two together?”

Loki dared to glance back at Thor, his eyes meeting hers for a half a second.

“Yeah,” Thor said before Loki had a chance to open her mouth.

Loki tensed up in shock, frozen while the teacher simply nodded and wrote their names down, assigning them _The Tell-Tale Heart_. She strolled back to the front of the room, explaining what the assignment entailed as she did. Loki wasn't paying attention though, she was too busy stealing glances back at Thor over her shoulder. While Thor had gone back to scribbling something in his beat up notebook, like he didn't just pair them up for a project.

After going on about the guidelines for each part of the assignment for a couple more minutes, the teacher let them have the rest of the period to start planning, the classroom slowly filling up with the sound of everyone talking.

Loki didn't know what to do. Thor was still scribbling, and he gave zero indication that he planned on saying anything else. Loki turned to sit sideways in her seat, intending to be the one to say _something_ , then quickly changed her mind and sat forward again. Like, _what?_ Did Thor just expect her to do the work and slap his name on it the last second?

God, that was probably it, wasn't it? And, fuck, it was probably going to work out like that, because what was she supposed to do? Bark an order and have him listen to to her?

Yeah fucking right.

 

Loki slammed her locker shut.

Her jaw had been so tightly clenched for the last two periods that her face was going to be sore. She dealt with a lot shit. Came to school with her heart in her goddamn throat every morning because she didn't know what kind of bullshit she might encounter that day, suffered through stares and stupid rumors and being lonely _all_ the goddamn time, but for some reason _this_ is what has managed to piss her right the fuck off.

Everyone was rushing around the halls, laughing and shouting as they planned out their fun weekends together. It only pissed her off more to think that she'd be stuck doing both halves of a project while Thor did… whatever the fuck it was he did on weekends.

She slapped her hand on Thor's locker and slammed it shut, Thor just barely managing to get his hands out of the way. His eyes narrowed in to an angry squint, but it barely touched Loki in her boiling rage.

“I'm not doing this stupid project all by myself just so you can get a good grade doing jack shit,” she hissed, heart pounding in her ears.

Thor's nostrils flared as he stared her down. The silence dragged on, the two glaring at each other. Loki didn't miss how the crowd had started to thin out, the hall growing quiet around them.

“Alright,” Thor huffed, “what do you want me to do?”

Loki reared back in shock. That actually worked? “Um, well, maybe tomorrow you can come to my house, or I can go to your-”

“No,” Thor snapped, making Loki jump.

“ _Fine_ ,” she hissed, “my house it is then.” She dug around in her backpack for her phone. “I can give you my number-”

“I don't have a phone.”

Loki blinked. She huffed, ripping out a piece of paper from one of her notebooks. “Okay then, I'll give you my address, when are you free?”

Thor shrugged _very_ helpfully. Loki let out a heavy sigh.

“How about, _I don't know_ , two?”

“That's fine.”

Loki took a deep breath and handed the paper to Thor, only realizing fully what she'd just done when he took it and stuffed it in to the pocket of his hoodie.

Just gave the strange new guy her address, great move. Survival instincts on point.

He kept looking at her. Why was he doing that?

_Oh_ , she was in the way of his locker still, right. She stepped aside, lingering as Thor reopened it and dug around, waiting for something. She quickly realized how stupid that was, because in their relatively few but excruciating interactions, Thor was clearly not big on the whole being polite and saying _hello_ and _goodbye_ thing.

Loki tried to figuratively shake off some of the _idiot_ that was clinging on to her and walked away. Her aunt was probably getting worried at this point anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit y'all, Thor's already coming over to Loki's house!!! It's gonna be Awkward As Fuck!!!!!


	3. Close Encounters of the Awkward Kind Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thor "Terminally Bad At Small Talk" Borson

Loki twisted the hem of her t-shirt, wondering if she should change again, and then wondering why the hell she cared so much about how she looked to Thor in the first place.

(And _those_ thoughts led down to thoughts about how Thor was – _objectively_ _speaking_ \- pretty hot, but also he was an asshole who probably wouldn't even be in to her _anyway_ , so again, why did she care?)

Her aunt pulled her from her the knots she was tying in her brain in to with a hand on her shoulder.

“I noticed you haven't eaten lunch yet,” she said, setting a plate down with a sandwich and some chips on it.

“I'm too nervous to eat.”

“I know, but try for me, okay?” She ran a hand through Loki's hair. “I'm gonna be right here, and I'm not gonna let anything happen.”

“I know,” Loki sighed, pushing her laptop back and dragging the plate in front of her. “I don't know what I'm supposed to do.”

Hanna took the seat kitty-corner to hers, resting her chin in her hand. “Well, just focus on your project and work from there, from what you've said this Thor guy seems like he'd be pretty okay with everything being straight forward like that.”

Loki picked up one of the chips on her plate and spun it around slowly, frowning.

“Don't over think it,” Hanna said, “it'll be a few hours and it'll be over before you know it.”

Loki just kept frowning.

Hanna stood back. “Eat your lunch.”

 

Loki's heart jumped when the knock came at the front door. Hanna hopped up from the couch and went over to answer it.

“Hi, you must be Thor?”

Loki could hardly hear if Thor even replied to her aunt, but then all of a sudden he was just there, standing in Loki's house. He looked a bit less pissed and more cautious, and there was a whole awkward moment where everyone did nothing but stare at each other.

“You want anything to drink, Thor?” Hanna offered, trying to break the ice. “Soda, water, anything?”

Thor gave a small shake of his head, both hands clinging to the strap of his ratty backpack.

“Well, okay, but if you change your mind, just ask,” Hanna soldiered on, undeterred by Thor's lack of response, patting him on the back. “I'll be right over here if you guys need me.”

There was another few moments of tense awkwardness before Thor finally joined Loki at the dining table, setting his backpack on the floor and sitting down carefully.

“I decided to start writing the paper a little bit before you got here…”

Thor nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

“Well, there's the whole poster part, I figured we could figure out what to do there and you can help with that?”

Thor shrugged. “Okay.”

“You've read the story, right?”

Thor squinted at her. “Yeah.”

“Just checking,” Loki said lightly. She pushed her laptop aside and reached over to drag the bag of craft supplies between them. “I was thinking maybe the poster could have, like, a big heart on it, which, I don't know, it's probably dumb and I'm not even really good at drawing-”

“I can try,” Thor cut in, his voice a barely existent, bass-y whisper.

Loki shrugged, figuring he couldn't be much worse than her, at least. She pulled out the pad of construction paper she picked up that morning slid it to him. “Need a pencil?”

Thor nodded and Loki got up and went in to the kitchen to dig one out of the junk drawer for him, settling back in to her seat with a huff.

“Can I look at a picture?”

Loki gave him a quick nod, looking back at her laptop before grabbing her phone sitting next to it. She quickly looked up pictures of hearts, and then narrowed her searched for _realistic_ pictures of hearts.

“Ugh, ew,” Loki cringed at her phone, practically tossing it to Thor.

She could have swore she heard Thor laugh. It was _barely_ one, but still enough to shock her. But by the time she looked at him he was stone-faced once more, now squinting at the screen. He didn't say another word as he seemed to find the right picture and set her phone down, flipping through the pad of construction paper until he found a white page and got to work.

Loki supposed that meant she should too.

 

“Hey, I think I'm gonna- oh wow, Thor, that looks great!”

Loki blinked as she looked away from the screen. Her aunt was standing beside Thor, looking down at the pad of paper that he had propped against the edge of the dining table. Thor looked a bit flustered, shoulders bunching up by his ears.

“Have you seen this?” Hanna asked her.

Loki shook her head, looking back to Thor. He seemed almost reluctant, despite being the one to offer to draw in the first place. He set the pad on the table and pushed it to her. Loki's mouth fell open as she looked at what he'd drawn. It was definitely, way, way better than what she could have expected.

A small, astonished “wow” was all she could manage. Thor pulled back the pad of paper, rolling his shoulders, looking a little guarded.

“Well, I was actually coming over to say I'm thinking pizza for dinner,” Hanna explained, “what kind of toppings do you like, Thor?”

Thor shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever's fine.”

“You sure? We might be a pineapple and anchovies family, you know,” she teased, prodding Thor's arm lightly. “Really, if you have a preference, it's fine.”

“I don't, really.”

“Alright, alright-” She patted Thor's shoulder. “Wait, I should have asked you this earlier, but when do your parents want you home?”

“It's just my dad,” Thor said, not looking at either of them, “and he works tonight so it doesn't matter.”

“Oh, well, okay then,” Hanna said, sounding a little troubled by that. “I'm gonna go ahead and order then.”

Hanna walked back in to the living room, and Loki could hear her talking on her phone, but she found herself focused on Thor, who seemed to be trying hard to not look at her at all. She heard the pencil scraping on the paper, and figured she was better off not asking about it.

 

After a struggle with Loki's aunt about her giving him a ride home, he relented, and Loki was left on her own to process how it had gone.

It went better than Loki had anticipated, for sure. And they ended up it with an almost complete project, she just had to wait for the glue to dry and she had to do a bit more with the paper. So there was that. But she couldn't help but feel a bit.. weird. Thor seemed cagey and on guard. She remembered how insistently he said no about going to his house, and it got her a bit curious.

_Ugh,_ _ **don't**_. She tried to shake that thought process from her head, saving her work before shutting her laptop and deciding she needed to wash the stress sweat off with a long shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh, _Loki thinks Thor is cuuuuuute._
> 
> She doomed now.


	4. Loki's Shitty Morning

The project had gotten them a good grade, and, not that surprisingly, when Loki had pointed out to everyone that Thor had made the poster for it pretty much all the attention went to him. Not that Thor liked it at all, and seemed a little annoyed that Loki gave him credit for his work. Whatever. Everyone chilled out eventually, though their corner ended up being invaded by a few of the girls who usually kept to the opposite end of the room. Now Loki had to be witness to their constant attempts to drag a conversation out of Thor.

As for Loki and Thor, they'd gone back to their usual thing as soon as their assignment was turned in, the two of them only interacting when they had to. The fact that Thor had basically spent a day in her house started to feel like a fever dream by the end of the week.

She guessed that it was better that way, but some part of her still quietly whined about it, much to her chagrin.

 

Her aunt had to work early, which meant she had the misfortune of being dropped off at school early. She walked the quiet, nearly deserted halls slowly, eating her yogurt and and bopping her head along to some music as she made her way to her locker.

She came to a stop mid-step as she turned in to the hallway her locker was in. It was obvious even from a distance. The row of grey metal lockers and just the one covered in tape and paper. Her heart sunk and her stomach churned as she plodded forward, vision starting to blur before she could even see what they had done.

She knew who did it, that wasn't ever really a question. Most people just treated her like a leper, but there was a group of guys, some who'd even been her friends before she came out, that felt the need to make sure Loki (and everyone else) knew just how much of a ghoulish freak she was. They'd left her alone after a couple nerve wracking encounters towards the beginning of the school year and she had hoped maybe they'd finally gotten bored of tormenting her, but apparently she was wrong.

She didn't know why it always surprised her, or why it hurt her so much. It had been happening since Loki came out at the start of freshmen year, they were juniors now, this should be old by now.

But no, and it still hurt to see print outs of anatomy diagrams showing her all the ways she wasn't _really_ a girl, and all the words scrawled all over them to drive the point home.

She considered going to the office and trying to report it, but she knew it was useless. Most of the guys who did this were football players and basketball players. The best they ever got was a stern talking to, and nothing beyond that. They wouldn't care about some papers on her locker beyond the duct tape they used to stick them on ruining the paint job.

With a quiet sob, Loki pulled out her earbuds and tossed her ruined breakfast in to the big garbage can at the end of the row. Tears began to cascade down her cheeks as she stood in front of her locker, hands shaking as she worked to rip off the paper and tape before people started showing up.

She was startled out of a daze at the sound of footsteps approaching. She crumpled the papers and tape in her hand and glanced back to see who was coming.

“ _Shit_ ,” she hissed under her breath when she saw it was Thor. She whipped her head back, trying to keep her face turned away from his, letting her hair fall around her face to block it further, while he slowly approached. She clawed at the front of her locker, not caring about the nails she spent so long getting perfect the night before, or the hard sobs she couldn't manage to stifle, or anything apart from getting this shit off and getting away from this whole goddamn scene.

If Thor hadn't already figured it out on his own, or been told, he was going to know about Loki _now_. Frankly, she wasn't able to deal with whatever that might entail when she was already trembling and unable to stop herself from crying. She tore away the last of the paper frantically and balled it all up. She kept her face ducked down as she passed Thor, chucking the whole mess in to the trash and practically running opposite of the way she came.

She ducked in to the first bathroom she saw – the girls room, because _fuck_ going in to the boys room – and ran to the last stall, slamming the door shut behind her. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders and leaned against the railing and sobbed loudly in to the sleeves of her sweatshirt.

When started hearing more people milling about in the hallway, she forced herself to calm down. She ventured out of the stall cautiously, setting her backpack next to one of the sinks and pulling her makeup bag out of the from front pocket.

She unzipped it and stared at the jumbled contents for a few moments. Loki looked up at her reflection. Her mascara and the bit of of eyeshadow she'd put on earlier were smeared, some of her foundation had gotten wiped off too. Her eyes were puffy and red, and it made her face look a little too pale. She ran her fingers through her hair, fluffing up her loose, black curls and untangling a knot. She remembered how happy she'd been when she moved in with her aunt and she told Loki she could finally grow it out. Just that one thing seemed _so_ monumental to her, but right now, even with everything else that's changed since then… it made her wonder if it was even worth it. Was she always just going to be a weirdo to people?

A locker slamming out in the hall startled her from her thoughts. She grabbed a couple paper towels from the dispenser, wetting them to try and wipe off her smeared makeup and fix it before class started.

 

Loki slipped in to biology right before the bell rang, avoiding eye contact with Thor as she slid in to her seat at their table. Thor didn't say anything, which wasn't surprising, but he squirmed in his seat a lot more than usual, and that was all Loki needed to know.


	5. Loki's Less Shitty Afternoon

It was a wet, gloomy day. It really fit her mood. With an appropriately dark album playing she watched the dark clouds churn endlessly from her spot at the very back of the cafeteria, her back to the rest of the room.

She poked mindlessly at the pile of cooling spaghetti on her tray, taking the occasional nibble when her aunt's voice popped in her head to gently prod her in to eating. Loki always wanted to be annoyed with her for doing that, but at the same time, there _was_ that year where she basically starved herself to try and keep puberty at bay. So, she forced herself to eat a bit here and there, even though it always sat horribly when she felt like this.

A grim reflection in the glass caught her eye. Loki went completely still as Thor approached her table, only turning to look at him as he plopped down beside her. He dropped a plastic grocery bag and a few cartons of school issued chocolate milk down on the table. She couldn't stop staring as he pulled out a half full bag of potato chips and a few messy peanut butter sandwiches from the bag and proceeded to dig in.

Seeming to realize he was being watched, Thor acknowledged her with a curt nod and a grunt that was a general approximation of the word “hey” before going right back to his lunch.

Loki wasn't sure what to say or do. “I didn't know you had lunch right now?”

Thor shrugged, a bit of peanut butter clinging to the stubble around the corner of his mouth. “I don't usually stay in here.”

“Oh.”

Loki made herself look away from Thor and tried to eat some more of her own lunch.

 

Thor hovered behind her as she grabbed her books for the next couple of periods out of her locker. Loki didn't know what to make of whatever this was, Thor following her around like some quiet, ominous shadow. She slammed her locker shut and slung her backpack on to her shoulders with a huff, setting off to her next class. Which was English, coincidentally, so Thor stayed right up her ass.

She led the way in to the classroom, the two of them going to their usual spot and settling in. There was the daily struggle between the other girls attempts at flirting and Thor's inability to hold a conversation, then the teacher told them to quiet down and class went on like usual. Loki even heard Thor scribbling away in his notebook, and it was just a normal day for a while.

She shoved her books in to her bag just before the bell rang, only to have Thor swoop in and pick it up before she could. She stood there, confused for a moment as Thor held it out to her, finally slipping her arms in to the straps heading off with Thor at her side. He was following her to her next class, but he was being all twitchy.

Loki stopped with a heavy sigh, pinching the sleeve of Thor's dark grey hoodie and dragging Thor along as she stepped out of the flow of students. “Okay, what is it?”

Thor's eyes bounced up from the floor to her face. She waited for the words to come that would make this go from 'odd, but not terrible' to 'awful.'

“Does that… happen a lot?” Thor asked, the words forced out. He seemed uncomfortable just asking the question.

Loki furrowed her eyebrows, really confused now. “Wha-?”

Thor shifted from one foot to the other, rolling his shoulders. “This- this morning,” he said, keeping his voice low.

_Oh, the locker thing._ “ Um, kinda?  T hat hadn't happened for a couple months, so I sorta thought  maybe they were done.” Loki squirmed, tucking her hair behind an ear. She forced out a weak laugh. “Guess I was wrong.”

Thor nodded, eyes narrowed at nothing in particular as he seemed to process this new bit of information. Loki sighed, an odd sense of relie f washing over her, and started walking to her next class again. Thor fell in to step beside her.

 

Hanna stood in the entryway between the living room and dining room, throwing her arms out as she said, “why didn't you call me? I would have come and got you or talked to someone...”

Loki huffed, sinking deeper in to the couch and hugging herself, keeping her gaze at the TV. “I know, I just didn't want to make you miss work.”

“You're more important than work.”

Loki smiled, weakly. “No one would do anything anyway, though.”

Loki glanced over to see her aunt's face cycle through a few emotions, settling on something like disappointment. She rubbed her face with both hands and sighed, turning and walking back to the kitchen.

She wanted to mention the thing with Thor, but she didn't know where to begin with _that_ , and decided to keep it to herself for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch Thor skipping class to sneak to the library and frantically google 'HOW TO BE FRIEND????' and going off a few wikihow articles to get his intel.
> 
> Thor internally as he's picking up Loki's backpack like 'AM THIS FRIENDLY????? AM FRIEND?????'


	6. One Step Closer To Being BFFs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I was originally planning on making part of this much more detailed and like, involved, but the fact that Thor's not much for chatting made it really fucking BORING and ultimately I decided to scrap that particular idea. So here we are, back in to the right grove again.

Thor kept up with his hovering around Loki. He still wasn't much for conversation, but Loki found herself getting used to it. It was weird, but less than she would have expected it to be, honestly. She even found herself enjoying his quiet presence beside her. Thor walked her to her classes, giving a quick nod of his head as he went off. It felt nice to have someone there, easing some of the anxiety she felt throughout the day, taking away the loneliness she felt at lunch when she used to sit all alone.

She still wondered what made Thor start doing it – yeah, the locker thing set him off, but, like, _why_ – but after a week passed she felt less inclined to question it.

Then Friday came along, and Loki was feeling a bit bold.

“Do you like scary movies?” she asked as they walked in to English. It was another gloomy day, as it tended to be at this time of year, but it didn't feel heavy like usual.

It took a second for Thor to realize that Loki had asked him a question, shrugging when Loki repeated herself. “I guess, yeah.”

“Um, well-” Loki hesitated as they got to their usual seats, gnawing on her lip as she set her things down, “-they're having a marathon of Friday the Thirteenth movies tonight, and I was wondering if you might want to come over and watch them with me?”

Thor blinked at her, staring at her long enough that Loki was ready to say never mind to the whole thing, before Thor finally replied with a soft “okay.”

Loki perked up as she dropped in to her seat, unable to keep herself from smiling as she took her phone out of her bag so she could text her aunt. “Cool.”

She swore Thor even gave her a flicker of a smile back.

“Oh,” Loki spun around in her seat as the girls in the row next to them sat down, “do you need to go home first or do you just want to go to my place after school?”

Thor stared at her for moment, one shoulder twitching upwards. “I can just go with you.”

Loki texted her aunt as she turned back around. “Awesome.”

 

Loki felt even lighter as the afternoon pushed on, the feeling carrying on through the evening. Now that she'd spent some time with Thor, his quietness didn't bother her the way it did the first time he was over at her place, so it was actually kinda fun. Even if most of that fun came from the novelty of having someone over at all. Hanna had even let him stay over for the night, letting them spend the better part of Saturday up in Loki's room, Loki talking Thor's ears off about anything and everything while he passively took it all in.

 

She still had a skip in her step Monday morning as she made her way through the quiet halls, actually kind of excited about being in school for once.

“Well, we heard you were over at Loki's house this weekend and just got curious to see if it was true...”

Loki came to a dead stop, heart in her throat. The silence dragged on, and Loki could only assume that it was Thor refusing to answer.

“I bet it showed him its cock and it scared him so much he refuses to talk.” Loki could pinpoint the laughs of each of the guys, a few of the ones who enjoyed tormenting her the most – Josh, Mike, David.

“You know you could get some real pussy easy, dude.”

“Fuck off.”

“Come on-”

Loki flinched at the sound of the something slamming against the lockers. She crept up to peek around the corner to see Thor with his forearm pressed to Josh's throat while the other two stood frozen in place.

“Don't fucking touch me,” Thor rumbled, his voice deep and downright scary as it echoed down the hall.

He released Josh and glared at the other two as if to challenge them, but the they didn't seem inclined to take up the offer. Loki ducked in to the nearest classroom as they walked her way, pressing herself to the wall.

“He's a fucking faggot too.”

“He better fucking watch himself.”

They kept bitching about Thor under their breath as they walked past. Loki waited until their voices had faded before creeping back out. She peeked around the corner to find Thor still at his locker. She took a deep breath and walked over to her own, trying to seem like she hadn't seen what she'd seen.

“I saw you over there,” Thor said without looking at her.

Loki's hand stilled on the lock, glancing at Thor through the corner of her eye.

“Are those the guys that did that to your locker?”

Loki shrugged as she put in her combo, cheeks going warm. “That's a few of them, yeah.”

Thor nodded, looking thoughtful as he shut his locker and waited for Loki to finish getting her stuff. They started down the hall together, arms brushing as they walked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thor's making a mental checklist called 'All The Asses I Have To Kick.'


	7. Ominous Clues in to Thor's Home Life

Loki found Thor sitting against the wall across from her locker, people keeping a wide berth as they shuffled past that stormy morning. Something seemed off. Loki couldn't quite put her finger on it, given Thor's general state of sullenness, but there was definitely something there. She got her books for the first few periods of the day and put them in her book bag, walking up to Thor after checking that her lock was set.

She saw what was wrong as as soon as Thor got to his feet. Along his jaw was a large, dark purple bruise. She stared at him in shock. Thor turned his head away, refusing to meet her eyes. The first bell rang and Loki jumped at the shrill sound. Still somewhat dazed, she took hold of the the sleeve of Thor's hoodie, reflexively leading them towards biology.

“What happened?” she asked, keeping her voice soft and low. She was scrambling to find an explanation. “Was it Josh and his friends?”

Thor gave a small shake of his head, eyes focused relentlessly ahead. “Don't worry about it.”

They stopped just before the door. Loki was staring at Thor, trying to pull out the information with her mind. Then, there were fingers on her waist, their warmth bleeding through the fabric of her shirt as he nudged her, pushing her to and through the doorway. Even as Thor's hand fell away the sensation lingered, distracting Loki (briefly) from her confusion and worry.

 

Lunch came and Thor didn't have his customary multiple peanut butter sandwiches. He didn't have anything else, either. The dismay she felt upon seeing the bruise that morning only increased with that. Thor sat in his usual silence beside her, still seeming more miserable and tired than usual. Loki couldn't help but squirm as she struggled to figure out what to do.

“Where's your lunch?”

“Forgot it,” Thor replied, staring down at his folded hands resting on the table. The response seemed overly practiced, almost robotic in how Thor said it.

She looked down at her tray, looking at her sad little chicken sandwich, handful of soggy fries, and slimy peaches. She could make it until dinner, she'd lasted much longer than that before, she thought to herself. She pushed her tray over, nudging Thor's arm with the corner of it. Thor finally looked at her, bruised jaw hidden behind his shoulder.

“You can have mine.”

Thor's brows furrowed, eyes bouncing between her and the tray.

“I'm not really hungry anyway,” she added, pushing the tray more firmly in to Thor's arm.

After what looked like an agonizing internal struggle, Thor dragged his arms off the table and sat up, letting Loki slide the tray in front of him.

Thor stared down at it as Loki dug through her bag for a notebook so she could have something in front of her. He glanced over at her as she looked back at him.

“Thanks,” he whispered.

Loki smiled softly at him. For a flash Thor returned it.

 

After debating with herself in front of the open cabinet for a few minutes, she grabbed a package of swiss roll cakes and dropped it in to the lunch bag. _There_. She had cobbled together what she thought was a decent enough lunch for Thor – some of the leftovers from dinner the night before, a turkey sandwich, and now a little treat too.

“Oh, you decided to bring lunch today?”

Loki jumped and whipped her head around, managing to nearly smack her face in to the corner of the cabinet door. “Um, yeah,” she closed the cabinet door, smiling like her heart wasn't pounding from being startled. “I don't like what we're having today,” she explained for no reason.

Hanna smiled, “alright, you almost ready to go?”

“Yeah, just give me five minutes,” Loki said with a nod, shutting the velcroed flap of the lunchbox. Her aunt had turned away when Loki remember the question that had been nagging at her for the last couple days.

“Oh, um, one more thing.”

Hanna turned back around, raising an eyebrow at her. “Yes?”

Loki rubbed her hands together, shifting as she leaned a hip on to the edge of the counter. “Can I invite Thor over again this weekend?”

“Sure-” Hanna frowned a little at her, head tilted as she studied Loki for a moment. “-is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” she said, trying to sound more sure of herself than she felt. Hanna squinted at her and Loki knew she wasn't doing that well. “...I think?”

Hanna waited.

Loki's shoulders sagged. “Thor hasn't had lunches for the last couple days-” she gestured to the lunchbox “that's why I'm bringing that.” Loki kept the bruise to herself, a little too scared about what might happen if she mentioned it.

Hanna nodded slowly, looking over to the lunch and then back to her. “Alright,” she sighed, looking at Loki seriously as she said, “thanks for telling me.”

“It's still okay to have him over?”

Hanna smiled at her sympathetically. “Yeah, of course.”

Loki sighed in relief.

 

She walked past her own locker, right up to Thor, and held the lunchbox out to him.

Thor blinked at it, then her.

“I kinda just threw whatever together,” Loki explained, “I hope that'll be okay.”

Thor took the bag, opening it up and looking at the lunch Loki had packed in for him. He stared at it for a moment, Loki watching with a nervous flutter in her stomach. He closed it carefully, setting it in to his backpack.

After a long, quiet moment, he said, “thank you.” His eyes flicked up to Loki's before dropping back to the floor. He swung his backpack on to his shoulder and shut his locker. After Loki got her things, the two fell in to step as they made their way down the hall.

“Do you want to come over to my house again this weekend?” Loki asked quickly, those flutters kicking right back in to overdrive. “My aunt said it's okay.”

Thor thought it over, but not for too long. “Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Troubled Boy Has Troubling Troubles.


	8. heart 2 heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karate chopping down emotional walls, doing some bonding, getting a whole lotta backstory.

Loki waited in the living room, feet balanced on the edge of the coffee table. She bounced her legs to try and alleviate the tension she felt as she waited for Thor to finish his shower. Hanna had at some point gone out and bought Thor some clothes – just a few t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants, nothing wild – and some 3-in-1 shampoo so he could shower and have something clean to wear. Loki hadn't known her aunt was going to do that, and she couldn't tell what the look on Thor's face meant when she handed them to him. That meant that she'd spent the time since then figuratively at the edge of her seat, wondering if Thor might be… mad? Embarrassed? She didn't know, and that was the worst part.

She sucked in a breath when she heard the water stop upstairs, knocking her knees together until the bathroom door finally opened and he came back downstairs.

“Hey.” Loki bit her lip, forcing herself to look at the TV as Thor came and sat beside her on the couch. Loki's nose was filled with the scent of the the shampoo her aunt had bought, one of those kind of generically masculine scents, but Loki's stomach did a giddy flip anyway.

“Hey.” Thor tugged at the shirt and sweats, drawing Loki's eyes back to him. She caught sight of a faded bruise on the inside of his upper arm, partly hidden under the sleeve of the shirt. Thor noticed where she was looking, quickly tugged the sleeve down.

“What happened?”

Thor's shoulders twitched, refusing to meet her eyes. “Nothing.”

Loki sighed silently, letting it go. “I thought maybe we could watch a movie or something? Maybe we can play minecraft? We just have to be quiet since my aunt went to bed.”

“Sure,” Thor said, “whatever you want to do.”

 

Loki had been up late in to the night, thinking about the bruise on Thor's arm and the other on his jaw. How cagey he got about it. It all sat weird. Loki was curious and worried. She wondered if there was some way to get Thor to say something about it.

After tossing and turning on it she figured that maybe opening up a bit about herself might make Thor willing to do so too.

She worked up the nerve to speak as they sat in her room, music playing from her phone. She was lying on her bed with her head hanging off the edge of the mattress, Thor sitting on the floor a foot away, Loki blurted out, “I was anorexic for, like, a year.”

Thor's head jerked around to look at her. “What?”

Loki rolled her head to look at him. “You know those videos they show you about puberty?”

Thor nodded, his brows furrowing as he tried to connect the two thoughts.

“Yeah,” Loki laughed, humorless and dry. She sat up and clambered down on to the floor next to Thor, hugging her legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees.

“I remember at some point just going ice cold and getting, like, tunnel vision. I remember all the boys around me laughing about boners and balls and all I could think about was all the other stuff happening to me and just feeling like I could puke for days.”

Loki blinked slowly, staring at the posters she'd painstakingly stuck to the wall as she thought back to that time. How suddenly she felt so alone and scared.

“I'd never been more terrified of anything before then,” Loki said, glancing over to Thor. He watched her intently. “I could handle being forced to play little league and the boring fishing trips with my dad and brothers, I liked running around and being obnoxious with my friends… so, I could ignore the weird feelings I'd had before, but the thought of becoming a man was horrifying, and the fact that I was horrified by it was even worse.”

Loki popped her knuckles and wrung her hands together. She had only ever said any of these things to her aunt and her therapist, and she hoped she wasn't making a mistake with this.

“I was so scared that I just honestly couldn't stomach food for a while,” she explained, “but then it became something else. I guess figured if I didn't eat then I wouldn't change, I would stay small and I wouldn't become a man.”

Loki looked back at Thor, trying a smile. “Sounds a little nuts, doesn't it?”

Thor stared at her at her for a moment. His shoulders twitched with a barely existent shrug, saying softly, “I can't really imagine not wanting to eat.”

Loki snickered, looking back at the wall. “I found some list of foods online of foods that were supposed to affect hormones, so I'd eat those sometimes, and since I'd always been a bit picky anyways that was enough to keep my parents off my back for a bit.”

“Huh?”

Loki looked to Thor again, eyebrow raised.

“There are foods that do that?”

“Maybe?” Loki sighed, “I just trusted it, I'm not sure if it really did anything.”

Loki scrunched her nose as she thought back on that time. “I just know I can't even _look_ at a block of tofu now.”

“Hanna knew something was wrong the whole time,” Loki went on, “I was really annoyed about it for a while, when she would constantly ask me if I was okay and tell me she was there for me if anything was wrong.” Loki rolled the thin fabric of her pants between her fingers. “I just really didn't want anything to be wrong.”

“I ended up passing out at school and, I don't know, I just broke down. I told the nurse I hadn't been eating and everything started from there. I eventually told Hanna how I'd been feeling, then the therapist-” Loki felt a lump form in her throat. “-and then my parents.”

Despite it being years now since it all happened, it still feels fresh when she thinks about it. “My dad was livid, but I was always too girly and faggy for him to really like me anyway, so I expected that. I think I just finally gave him a solid reason to disown me. My brothers just decided I didn't exist anymore...”

Loki tightens her arms, blinking away a couple tears. “I really thought my mom would be the one to come around, she always told me was her baby and would tell me not to listen to my dad and brothers when they picked on me, but the way she looked at me...”

Loki sniffled, wiping her face on the sleeve of her shirt before burying it in her arms. After a couple minutes she felt one of Thor's hands on her back, gently rubbing up and down. Loki shivered. She sat there, focused on the heat of his palm, some tension that had built up melted away.

“I do have one kinda funny story about coming out,” Loki said with a sniff, lifting her head to look at Thor.

Thor laid his arm along the edge of the bed, his thumb still brushing along Loki's back, eyebrow rising.

“Me and Hanna went to my grandma's house for thanksgiving a few months after I came out, and by then I'd put some weight back on and had started to present as a girl here and there, I wore this nice dress with tights and shoes, the whole thing, and when we get there, we find out no one had thought to mention it to my great grandma before then, so you can imagine her confusion. Well, one of my older cousins explained to her what transgender meant, and how that meant I was a girl now.”

“I'm standing there, completely terrified and shaking from head to toe,” Loki says through a laugh, “and she's thinking it through and looking at me, squinting at me through her giant, thick glasses, and then she says 'I should have guessed, I always like my granddaughters better.”

Thor chuckled, shaking his head, and Loki joined in. She could remember what a relief that had been, and that she had nearly collapsed to the floor from laughing and crying. The rest of the day had gone perfectly, and it was the first time Loki could remember where she had truly felt like herself.

They both jerked their heads to the doorway when Hanna knocked on the open door. “You guys hungry?”

 

They had both settled on Loki's bed, arms pressed together. Loki had her laptop on her belly, searching for something to watch.

“My mom died when I was seven,” Thor said abruptly, his eyes focused on the screen when Loki looked over at him.

“They, uh, her and my dad, went on a date one night and, I'm not really sure what happened, but there was an accident and my dad was hurt really bad, lost an eye, but my mom died before anyone got there.”

Loki stayed quiet, watching Thor's face as she waited for him to continue.

“I was always kind of intimidated by him, I would even run and hide behind my mom when he'd come home from work when I was little.” Thor took a deep breath. “But after the accident...”

Thor swallows, glancing over to Loki briefly. “He started drinking a _lot_ and would get angry at me and…”

“Hit you?” Loki whispered.

Thor nodded. “He gave me a black eye and my teacher asked about it when I went to school the next day, and I told her what happened because I was still pretty freaked out about it, I guess she must've reported it because we moved a few days later, and that's kinda how it's been ever since. He loses his job or someone starts asking questions about me, we pack up and move, over and over.”

“So, that-?” Loki looked pointedly at the fading bruise along Thor's jaw. Thor nodded again.

“I usually take a few bucks here and there from his wallet when he's passed out, just so I can get some food to hide in my room, but he wasn't as asleep as I thought. He usually avoids my face, though.”

Loki frowned. “That's why you stopped bringing lunch.”

“Yeah.”

Loki ran her fingertips along the edge of her laptop, staring at the screen. “Do you want me to keep bringing you lunch?”

Thor's hands twitched where they were folded on top of his stomach. “You don't have to.”

“I don't mind doing it,” she said softly, looking back at Thor.

Thor gnawed on his lip, looking up at the ceiling. “Yeah,” he answered, his voice strained.

Loki inhaled deeply, nodding her head as she turned her attention back to finding something to watch.


	9. Subtle as a Brick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a real short one, but it's cute and fluffy so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“You ready to go?”

“Yeah, just a second.” Loki tossed an extra snack in Thor's lunch, shoving a couple yogurts in to the lunch she packed for herself and putting both in to her backpack. She joined her aunt at the front door, setting her bag on the floor to put her coat on.

Her aunt paused putting on her own coat, looking Loki over, smiling. “Aren't _you_ dressed up today, you look good.”

Loki felt her face get warm, glancing down at herself. She self-consciously smoothed down the front of her sweater. “Thanks.”

She'd been up a little later than she should have the night before picking out her outfit, digging around in her closet until she found the right pair of tights and the pleated skirt she'd bought ages ago, and then she had to get up early so she had enough time to do her hair. It had been a long time since she'd had the desire to dress up at all for school, long ago defaulting to a pair of jeans with a hoodie or a t-shirt.

“Something special happening at school today?” Hanna asked.

“No,” she answered, zipping up her jacket, “just… felt like dressing up.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Hanna said with a nod. She looked Loki over again, her expression showing amusement. “You look very cute.”

Loki laughed awkwardly, feeling very conspicuous as she nervously tugged the sleeves of her jacket. “Thanks.”

 

“Hey,” she greeted Thor as she went to her locker. He was already leaning on the closed door of his own locker, replying with a nod of his head, eyelids drooping with tiredness.

Loki opened her locker and set her backpack on the floor to take off her jacket, her heart beating faster as she hung it up. She went about getting the first books she would need for the day without once looking at Thor, feeling her face get hotter by the second. She'd begun regretting every decision she'd ever made as soon as she'd gotten in to the car, prodding at her face and messing with her carefully curled hair while Hanna tried in vain to talk her down. She looked stupid. What the hell was she thinking? She was so stupidly obvious. They talk to each other a _little_ about their childhoods _once_ and she has to go and try and make it weird. God, _so_ stupid.

Hands trembling slightly, she grabbed the yogurts and spoons from her lunchbox, holding one of each out to Thor.

Thor's eyes shot up to her face. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Loki laughed timidly. “Do you like yogurt? I brought one for you too.”

Thor shrugged, taking the cup and then the lunchbox she handed to him.

Loki shut her locker, the two of them moving to the other side of the hallway to eat their breakfast, arms nearly touching as they leaned against the wall.

Thor kept fidgeting, which Loki now knew usually meant he was working his way towards saying something. She waited, stealing occasional glances at Thor's face as he worked through whatever it was that he was working through.

They'd finished eating and were making their way to their science class when it seemed Thor was finally ready to say something. He cleared his throat twice, shoving his hands in to his pockets as he mumbled something Loki couldn't make out in the rising chaos as the first bell rang and people flooded the halls.

“What?” Loki asked, her stomach flopping around.

Thor glanced at her, eyes sweeping down before going forward once again. “You look nice,” he said, words carefully enunciated.

Loki twisted the straps of her backpack in her hands, unable to keep herself from smiling. “Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hanna: wow whats the special occasion?
> 
> Loki:  
> 


	10. The Inner Machinations of Thor's Mind are an Enigma

Thor tiptoed his way to the front door of the apartment, avoiding the creaky spots on the floor. His eyes skimmed over the dirty carpet as he glanced over to where his dad was sprawled out on an old couch, snoring in to a bunched up blanket.

Thor's shoulders slumped in relief when he finally shut the door behind himself, taking a deep breath of the stale air before making his way down to the end of the hall. He could hear through each door he passed other people getting ready for their days. Barely there murmurs as people talked in one, a mom shouting at her kids to move faster from the next, and the smell of someone making breakfast wafted out from another door. Thor sighed as his stomach grumbled, pulling his arms tight against his sides and his hands deeper in to the pockets of his hoodie.

He made his way down sets of stairs and out the front door. He yanked up his hood at the first brush of icy air against him, which didn't do much at all against the cold, but it was better than nothing.

It was a wet, gloomy morning, the soaked pavement shimmering with the yellow lights from the streetlights. Thor was slowly lulled by the rhythm of his own shoes slapping against the sidewalk, the stress of being home slipping away.

 

Thor did his best to shake of the rain that clung to his shoulders and head as he walked in to the school, heading straight for the hall his locker was in. After getting a couple of his textbooks out and in to his backpack, he leaned against the wall and waited for Loki to show up, zoning out and nearly nodding off on his feet until his ears picked up on her familiar footsteps down the hall. He stood up from the wall as she popped out around the corner, beaming at him as they both walked up to her locker.

Thor took her backpack as she opened her locker and tore off her coat, bouncing a little as she popped her foot out towards him. “Check out my new boots!”

Thor's eyes dropped automatically, gaze lingering on the space of bare, pale thigh between the tops of her dark gray socks and the hem of her green plaid dress.

“I got them to go with my outfit for thanksgiving but I just couldn't wait to wear them,” she went on, unaware as she dug around in her locker that Thor was utterly distracted by the way the pleated bottom of her dress fluttered around her legs. “-but I gotta break them in a bit, right?”

She looked back up as she shut her locker, and Thor's cheeks filled with heat as jerked his head back up, heart speeding up as she took her bag back and pulled out a lunchbox and handed it to him. “There's an extra sandwich in there is for breakfast if you want it right now.”

“Thanks.” Thor said, thankful for the distraction as they started making their way down the hall. He cleared his throat. “Aren't you gonna eat?”

“Ate on the way here.” Loki smiled, her steps bouncy as she walked beside him.

Thor found himself unable to stop stealing glances at her as they made their way to class. The sandwich could only distract him so much, apparently. Loki had her hair up, a few, silky, wavy pieces falling around her face and down the back of her neck. It took everything for Thor not to reach out and touch it, wanting to see if her hair was as soft as it looked.

Loki's eyes met his and Thor flinched as he looked away, the sandwich suddenly very interesting again.

“So,” Loki bit her lip, watching the side of Thor's face, “do you want to come over this weekend?”

Thor glanced over, cautiously, nodding slowly. He felt a little bad about how much he looked forward to going to Loki's, and being away from his dad. Going back and forth from relief to not having to tiptoe around whatever shitty mood he was in and being around Loki more to feeling like he was in the way or bothering Loki's aunt by being there.

Thor finished his sandwich quickly, stuffing the last few bites in to his mouth, and followed Loki in to the lab.

 

Thor was loaded up with grocery bags, dutifully following Loki to the front door, standing close behind as she unlocked it and held it open for him. He went straight for the kitchen, Loki and her aunt following right behind him. It was noisy chaos as things were unpacked and put away, Loki and Hanna going back and forth about what they wanted make for dinner. Thor kept quiet and put things away, making a small noise of confusion when he noticed an extra loaf of bread.

“I think you got someone else's bag,” Thor remarked softly, holding up the extra bread.

Hanna only paused briefly, saying casually, “oh, no, I just got some extra food.”

As Hanna moved on, Thor took notice of the other extra stuff that she bought. Another jar of peanut butter, a gallon of chocolate milk, among a few other things. Thor was silent as he put away the rest, Loki and Hanna finally coming to a decision. Hanna got started while Loki lead Thor to the living room.

“I'm gonna change real quick,” Loki said, waiting for Thor to nod before taking off upstairs, his eyes glued on to Loki's back as she quickly bounced up to the second floor, watching every movement.

Thor was still staring up at the stairs when Hanna's head popped in to the entryway. “Thor?”

Thor flinched, heart thumping as he turned back.

“Don't be shy with the food, okay?” she said, smiling softly at him. “If you're hungry, go ahead and eat.”

Thor nodded, his face burning while he hurried to the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Thor, he's such a horngry boi.


	11. SleepyLoki Does What AwakeLoki Is Too Afraid To Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to get this out sooner, but I couldn't stop fucking changing things around and being picky for no good reason. GODDAMN ME.

Thor had been dozing on and off for a while, burrowing in to the blanket and noticing the room brighten slightly each time he opened his eyes. He lifted his head when he heard a floorboard creak, blinking away the blur of his eyes just in time to see Loki make her way down the stairs. She still seemed half asleep, mouth pulled in to a frown and squinting at everything. Her eyes fell on Thor when he stretched, groaning as his feet and arms stuck out past the armrests at either side. She stood there, rubbing her arms, pondering something while Thor slowly sat up.

She walked up and grabbed the end of the blanket still tangled around his lap, climbing under it as she slid next to Thor, snuggling up tightly to his side. She folded her legs up under the blanket, practically shoving them in to Thor's lap and forcing him to fit himself around her. Loki hugged Thor's arm to her chest, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder as she settled in, letting out a content hum before going still.

This was all too much for Thor's heart to handle. He sat there, frozen in the minutes that followed, terrified that any slight movement would somehow end whatever was happening.

He couldn't resist his curiosity for too long, though, running a shaky hand up and down Loki's shin, a bit prickly with stubble but warm. He left his hand on her knee as he bent his head, pushing his nose in to her soft, slept in hair and inhaling, his stomach filled up with butterflies.

He shivered as he pulled away, swallowing around the lump that had formed in his throat, his eyes welling up. He struggled to hold back the sudden explosion of emotions that had taken hold, tried to keep control of his breathing. A few tears slipped out despite his efforts, and he wiped them away roughly. It seemed to be enough, at least, finally able to regain some sort of control.

He laid his head against the top of her head, rubbing his cheek against Loki's soft hair, his mind lulled by her quiet, steady breaths until he dozed off once again.

 

Loki groaned softly as she woke, curling up tighter and nuzzling in to the warmth. Realization crept in slowly, her cheek pressed against something firm, pressed to her chest, a hand on her leg-

Loki's eyes sprang open as she jerked up blinking owlishly at a very groggy Thor. He moved his hand off her leg to rub his face, just when the panic set in for Loki. She'd vaguely remembered going downstairs, the world so hazy that it seemed like it must've been a dream. Her face was flaming. She'd actually went and climbed all over Thor, he had a hand on her leg and she hadn't even shaved. Oh god, she had to have worn her flimsiest pajamas too, she may as well have come down here naked.

She groaned and buried her face in her hands, wanting to run up to her room and never come out again. Like, ever. That seemed like the best course of action.

“Sorry,” she mumbled in to her palms, ready to dart off.

“It's okay,” Thor said, voice deeper and a bit rough from sleep.

Goosebumps raised all over Loki's arms at the sound, her urge to run disrupted. She glanced at Thor, his eyes darting to the floor, his face pink.

“I- I, uh,-” Thor refused to look up at her, staring down as he fiddled with the blanket in his lap. “It was nice.”

Loki's heart did a happy little skip, her cheeks getting hotter at the thought of Thor actually kinda liking having her all over him.

“Really?”

Thor's eyes darted up to her, his mouth twitching in to a smile as he gave a slight nod of his head.

Loki felt hot all over, heart pumping, biting hard on her lip to stifle the urge to jump back in to Thor's lap.

“Hey guys, you're up early-”

Hanna and Thor flinched as Loki yelped in surprise. Loki's face somehow managed to feel even hotter, cowering in embarrassment as she met her aunt's wide-eyed stare.

“Umm,” Loki jumped to her feet, cold now that she wasn't wrapped up under a blanket with Thor. “ _Imgonnagochange-_ ” she muttered in a single breath, squeezing past her aunt without looking up from the floor and sprinting up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki acting as though Thor wouldn't be totally down to have her climb in to his lap BUCK-ASS NAKED. 
> 
> Oh Loki, YOU SILLY, SILLY GIRL! YOU ADORABLE FOOL!!


	12. Turkey Day Extravaganza Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may be reading the title of this chapter and thinking 'holy shit Jenny, bit fucking late, don't you think?' And you'd be right, but also this is one of those chapters that keeps growing(which is why I've chopped it up) and then I got my ass ENTIRELY kicked by strep throat and I didn't get to feel festive AT ALL so christmas is going a bit long this time.
> 
> So, for now, I give you this humble offering of a little filler chapter until I get the meaty bit finished.

Loki tapped mindlessly through different apps on her phone as she sat tucked under the strange and itchy bedding of a stiff hotel bed. They were sharing a suite with one of Loki's older cousins who lived out of state, hearing her and her husband try to coax their 2 year old in to laying down through the thin wall. It wasn't working.

Loki sighed when pintrest failed to distract her, setting her phone on the nightstand to charge and picking up the remote to see if television had anything to offer her.

Hanna came in when Loki had settled on some random crime documentary, dark hair wrapped up in a towel and in her pajamas. She sat in bed beside Loki, pulling her laptop out of her bag and grabbing her phone, the both of them quiet as she checked in a on a few more, Loki assumed, work related things before her shutting her laptop with a sigh and put both away.

“It was only a three hour drive, how am I this exhausted?”

Loki laughed softly, forcing it out, and shrugged. Hanna looked at her with a slight frown.

“You've been quiet today, what's the matter?”

Loki shrugged again, wringing her hands in her lap. “Just tired.”

She can feel the look her aunt is giving her, her posture sagging further with a heavy sigh. Loki pouts, hugging herself. “I just kinda wish I could talk Thor.”

Hanna tilted her head, a small empathetic frown on her face, hugging Loki to her side and rubbing her arm.

“I know, but we'll be back on Saturday, it's only a couple days.”

“Yeah, I know.”

 

Loki ducked out of the way of a flying polar bear, a scream peeling out of the baby cousin who just had her favorite toy of the moment ripped from her hands by her annoyed 3 year old brother. The barely contained ruckus was unleashed after that, the nice family photo that grandpa had been trying valiantly to coordinate put on unofficial hold as the rest of the little ones took the moment as their cue air out all their various grievances. Nice outfits and hairdos were being pulled at viciously, the noise was protested by even louder noises, complaints about being tired and hungry were made(loudly). Some of the older kids snuck off in the chaos, and Loki followed their lead, finding her way in to the bathroom to hide.

She took the chance to check on her hair and make up, happy to find it holding up relatively well despite the fact it had been getting pulled on and prodded at by little, sticky hands all day.

The chaos still went on outside the door, so she had a seat on the lid of of the toilet, smoothing her dress out on her lap.

She wondered how Thor's day was going, hoping that he wasn't hungry and, even more, that his dad wasn't being terrible.

 

Loki was doing her best to distract her baby cousin and not get her ears yanked off in the process while her aunts and some of her cousins checked through their various lists, voices raised to carry over the sounds of the other shoppers around them and the Christmas music blasting from above.

“Hey, Loki-”

She perked up at the sound of Hanna's voice.

“Why don't you go and pick out a couple gifts for Thor?”

Loki felt her face get warm as her family collectively turned a curious eye her way. “Really?”

“Yeah, just don't go too crazy.”

Loki was beaming as she handed her cousin back to her mom and darted off in to the crowd of other shoppers, not giving her family members a chance to pepper her with questions.

She found her way to the men's clothing department, excited to be there for approximately the first time in her life ever. She had one thing already in mind, and hurried over to a couple racks of sweatshirts and hoodies to begin digging in. Thor's hoodie was clearly old and worn out, the dark gray color dingy and discolored with old stains. She kept digging around, not really liking any of the color choices until she found a few in a nice, dark red that somehow just seemed like it would be perfect for Thor. Picking the one that seemed like it would fit Thor best, she excitedly moved on to the next thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that in this universe Loki has an excessively large extended family with like, many layers of aunts/uncles/cousins and they're lovely and supportive of Loki and it's _great..._ until they get wind of her new friend Thor, **Whomst Loki Totally Does _Not_ Have A Crush On, No Siree** and then it's all knowing glances and teasing and probing questions until Loki wants to shrivel up in to a raisin and roll under the couch.


End file.
